1910.] AND INVERTEBRATES OF ST. HELENA. 101 



The following are the notes I made from the examination of a 

 fresh male specimen at St. Helena : — The colours are chiefly 

 bright blue and green ; the dorsal and ventral fins are blue with 

 a red band running along the middle of each fin for its whole 

 length. The tail has a vertical edge in the middle, but the dorsal 

 and ventral rays are prolonged for about 1| inch. A dark, 

 almost black, colour covers the top of the head and extends as a 

 broad band along the side dorsally, but above this band at the base 

 of the fin the colour is bright blue. A narrow band of bright blue 

 extends from the base of the eye to the angle of the mouth, 

 and behind the eye on the operculum is a dull brick-red band. 

 The operculum is blue, the belly is green inclining to yellow. 

 The testes were narrow and elongated, but apparently ripe ; in the 

 stomach was an unidentified crustacean with curiously toothed 

 cheke. I did not carefully compare this male with a female with 

 regard to the prolongation of the caudal lobes, and the two spe- 

 cimens T brought home are not sufficiently well preserved to show 

 the sex with certainty ; but in one of them, 10| inches long, which 

 appears to be female, the caudal lobes extend only ^ in. beyond 

 the posterior margin of the fin. 



This species is very common about the wharf at St. Helena, and 

 makes the capture of other fishes with rod and line difficult by its 

 propensity to seize the bait as soon as it is put into the water. 

 It is used as food. It is peculiar to St. Helena. 



COSSYPHUS PECTORALIS. 



Harpe pectorcdis Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1862, p. 141. 



Cossyphus pectoralis Giinther, B. M. Cat. Fishes, iv. p. 110. 



Originally described from the coasts of Lower California. 

 Giinther states that the colour is brownish yellow, which is the 

 colour of a specimen 9| inches long which I brought home. Gill 

 says that the colour during life is blue. This species, like the 

 Green-fish, is taken from the wharf or the rocks by hook and line, 

 but is less common. 



SCARUS STRIGATUS. 



Scarus strigatus Giinther, B. M. Cat. Fishes, iv. p. 212 ; Melliss. 



The Rock-fish, Melliss. 



I obtained one specimen among a mixed lot of fish bought from 

 a man who had been fishing with rod and line from the landing- 

 steps at the wharf. It was rather less than a foot in length. In 

 colour it does not agree with Giinther's description, " olive (in 

 spirits)," although the specimens from St. Helena in the Museum 

 collection, collected by Bannerman, resemble mine. The general 

 colour of my specimen is a light brick-red ; on the posterior half 

 of the side below the lateral line is a violet-black patch not ex- 

 tending to the ventral edge ; the snout is black dorsally, with 

 patches of cream-colour, the chin is violet ; each scale has a darker 

 centre. The scales are very large, and the teeth form a beak 



